Stalling on playback of MXF files

I have recently installed Premiere pro on my 2010 mac pro to replace FCP7
Previously FCP 7 had been dealing fine with native mxd files but Premiere is providing me with all sorts of problems. Im constantly having to wait for it to catch up on playback and audio drops out at points playing a longer sequence.
Im quite new to this programme so would appreciate any advice at troubleshooting my system
Im running a ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024 MB graphics card (wondering if this is the issue) 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor and 10gb of ram
Thank you in advance
Andy

Hey Chris manny thanks for the reply That is curious about the ram....on final cut it was more than enough to play the mxf files
I wonder why the requirement is so much these days as its doing essential the same task?...hmmm. My pc also has less ram than 16gb and sails through mxf reading. Probably to do with the software I'm guessing. The drive the mxf is reading from is the newest item in my set up G drive thunderbolt 4tb. Which i am reading from its usb port..wondering if this is a problem? I don't think what I'm asking premier to do is very hard comparatively to other programmes i use so I'm trying to fathom if its a compatibility issue or a settings issue. I normally use Avid so this is a completely new system to me but any help is greatly appreciated as need to get it running smoothly for a new project I'm working on
OpenCL is enabled but this hasn't helped grrrr
Im sure one of you bright fellows will help me get to the bottom of it.
:) Andy

Thanks Dave You could be right although the client didn't give me the thunderbolt cable so i can't test it.
You would have thought in this day and age the usb would have been fast enough for the mxf? I also read from usb for other mxf files on fcp7 but this is a brand new drive to me.
Any other ideas greatly appreciated :)

Hey Chris
Yes its defiantly usb 3. That is really disappointing that Premiere would need so much...forcing people down the more ram route when ironically my previous FCP system was dealing with it fine with 3gb ram to start with
Poor show adobe the great technology...Hey look you have to buy more stuff...continues in a ever obsessed how hd is you hd world.
I feel 4k is complete overkill as a format generally...you only get the benefit when viewed on a large screen.
Just how hd do we need? We won't be happy until it looks more real than life ;)

Hey Chris I think you may have misunderstood my rant. It was more generally aimed at the technology companies as a whole. As a Tv professional since 1999 i have observed the drip feeding of technology and enforced obsolescence in many guises. These companies are in the business of selling you things so its no surprise they operate like this they need to keep you buying hence the..."oh you need to upgrade again...what again? i only upgraded last year" pattern. Adobe are no different and are part of this wider game. All the major editing programs have plus and minus points and i have used them all now but this is the newest to me and it does also have its plus points over avid and fcp so im not knocking it generally but i do stand by the fact adobe are part of the "you must buy more stuff" business model. I am interested though why addobe say 8 is sufficient in the specs were do you see that extra Ram coming into play? Id imagine for 4k just to deal with the vast picture size in itself will keep it busy.

Dave i took your advice and got a USB 3 pic card for my mac which I'm sure would help generally
Thought this would solve the issue but it has not. I have however tried making new project with other footage an there is no issue with playback at all.
Maybe it is project specific. It was actually a project i opened which had previously been created on a slightly earlier version so it converted it as i opened it.
Might it related to this?
Any surjections gratefully received..its getting rather annoying now as i still need to work on this project
grrrrr